Allergan is dealt another setback as patent board shoots down Mohawk patent deal; STAT, February 23, 2018

Ed Silverman, STAT; Allergan is dealt another setback as patent board shoots down Mohawk patent deal

"In a closely watched case, a U.S. patent appeals board ruled that a Native American tribe cannot claim sovereign immunity in order to avoid a certain type of patent challenge. The decision is a blow to Allergan (AGN), which last fall transferred patent rights to one of its biggest-selling medicines to the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe in hopes of thwarting generic competition.

Procedurally, Allergan sought to avoid inter partes reviews, a type of patent challenge that has vexed drug makers since going into effect six years ago, because these are easier and faster to file than patent lawsuits. At the time it transferred patent rights to its Restasis eye treatment, which last year generated more than $1.4 billion in sales, Allergan was facing a conventional patent challenge in a federal court."

Why drugmakers aren’t sweating the next wave of patent losses; Bloomberg News via News Chief, July 10, 2017

Bloomberg News via News Chief; Why drugmakers aren’t sweating the next wave of patent losses

"Drugmakers plunged off a patent cliff earlier this decade, losing billions in sales as lucrative branded drugs lost exclusivity. An expensive lobbying effort aimed at preventing a repeat is paying off.

The loss of a series of key patents for cholesterol fighters and other widely used medicines cost big-name drug companies about $82 billion in sales between 2011 and 2013, according to life-sciences data company Evaluate Ltd., forcing large-scale job cuts and a wave of deals to make up for lost revenue...

By the time lawmakers passed a path to market for biosimilars as part of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, the industry had assured that competition would come much more slowly, making the resulting sales decline look less like a precipice and more like a gentle hill."

MSF Challenges Pfizer Patent Application For Pneumonia Vaccine In India; Intellectual Property Watch, 3/11/16

Intellectual Property Watch; MSF Challenges Pfizer Patent Application For Pneumonia Vaccine In India:

"Today, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors Without Borders) filed a patent opposition against Pfizer’s vaccine for pneumonia in India.

According to an MSF press release, the humanitarian association hopes to prevent United States company Pfizer from getting a patent on the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PVC13) so competition can bring cheaper versions to the market...

Pneumonia kills almost one million children each year, according to MSF. Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) are the only two companies manufacturing the vaccine.

According to the release, “it is now 68 times more expensive to vaccinate a child than in 2001. It refers to a 2015 MSF report, The Right Shot: Bringing down Barriers to Affordable and Adapted Vaccines."